My interest in this year’s release stemmed from my general enthusiasm about this year’s NBA season, and NBA 08 was to be the first NBA game released this year. That said, the folks behind NBA 07 have had a year to improve things, and I was looking forward to seeing how things had improved.
Improved? Yes. Good? No
NBA 08 felt immediately like it was much improved over NBA 07, but it still has a long way to go. And I don’t mean a long way to go until it’s up their with the 2K series or even the Live series – I mean it has a long way to go to be a decent basketball sim as it strives to be. Sure it’s got the NBA license, but the realism nearly ends there. Let’s just say I have seen some whacky AI and physics mishaps or glitches, whatever you want to call them, during games. Some of these events were so laughable or startling (i.e. the CPU pulling off a pass that would require nothing less than The Force), that I had to replay them. Sure enough, the replay confirmed what I saw; oh, and you can’t save replays, which is no wonder given all of the flaws they expose (which is true to a point for those other NBA titles too).
About fifteen games into my NBA 08 season, I had seen more physics-defying acts, clipping, brainless AI, and unrealistic, unexplainable play than I would have ever imagined seeing. Take for example, this play involving two Heat players, who I was leading through my twenty-nine game season. The CPU takes a shot, and misses. One of my bench players, James Posey, goes up, and gets the rebound. In trying to setup a fast break, I have him immediately pass the ball, which he does, upon landing. However, instead of the ball sailing down court to Wade or Williams, the ball nails Mourning in the back and goes flying straight up to the invisible ceiling before bouncing down. It was hysterical. Other weird things include Shaq refusing to dunk the basketball on nearly every play; but, some of what he does instead of going for the hoop is nothing short of bizarre. I have seen him go up with the ball, andrather than attacking the hoop, he literally bounces the ball off the glass, a clear foot from the outer rim. I’ve seen bounce passes, both by the CPU and my team, which are impossible. I have played games in which the camera went crazy; I went from normal viewing to having a camera view that pointed directly at the ground, taking me completely out of the play (and then it rights itself on the next trip back up the court).
A Disappointing Outing
In short, NBA 08 felt like an incomplete, broken game. The flaws were surprising, but moreover, they were disappointing. There are a few good things to say about this game, but they are overshadowed by the inescapable bad. The fact that the framerate stayed smooth is a plus, but atthe same time NBA 08 doesn’t look as good as Live or 2K, and those titles do a fine job in the framerate department anyway. The shot meter each player has is neat, but it isn’t new to the series and 2K’s shot level meter is more informative and useful. The momentum meter is a neat idea; as teams hit big threes, make blocks, throw down dunks—their momentum meter increases, as you can see on the pop-up score graphic. The free throw system was clever too; the idea is to use the SIXAXIS controller; as my friend discovered, it seems to help if you hold the controller above your head, casually, and simulate a free throw motion. Not bad, but far too little to help improve the overall value of this title. Also, at the time of this writing, the NBA Game of the Week feature hasn’t yet been activated. This exclusive mode sounds great, however; what I believe is going to happen with it is that each week during this NBA season, you will find a game to download on the PSN, hopefully (read: it better be) for free. This game is ideally going to represent the most exciting game of that week and in short, it allows the player to try to recreate that heart stopping finish or what have you. It sounds neat, but again – the core of NBA 08, the game that’s on this disc – just isn’t good.